Кручинин А., курсант 101 взвода

Уфимского ЮИ МВД России,

факультет подготовки следователей

Попова Е.В., преподаватель кафедры иностранных и русского языков Уфимского ЮИ МВД России

Legislation comparison in Russia with the USA

US legislation is a complex multi-level system of law component of the US law. There are federal, state and local laws. All of them can be divided according to the sphere of application, as Common Law, Commercial law and Admiralty law etc. Two main documents are the basis of US federal legislation - the Constitution of the United States (US Constitution), and the Bill of Rights.

In Russia the sources of law are the Constitution, federal constitutional laws, federal laws, decrees and orders of the President of the Russian Federation, decrees and orders of the RF Government, departmental acts of the federal executive authorities, constitutions (charters) of the Russian Federation subjects, the laws of the Russian Federation subjects, the acts of the executive authorities of Russian Federation subjects , acts of local government; also to the sources of law include international treaties and agreements, if they have been ratified by the established procedure. The Constitution is the primary source of law in Russia, the principles of which must comply with all other legal provisions (Part 1 of Article 15 of the Constitution). Any act contrary to the Constitution, is recognized as invalid in part contradict the norms and should be either canceled or changed.

In American law there are two features which significantly distinguish it from the Russian. Firstly, it's a case, if the court issues a decision it is based on the norm, which is not subject to appeal. For example: man is eating a hamburger sitting on a dog. He is sentenced and then the act becomes criminal.

Secondly, unlike Russia, the United States is a full-fledged federation, not a unitary or single state, where each state has its legislation sanctions for one and the same offense varying from state to state very significantly.

For example, driving the car with tinted windows in Russia is punished with a five hundred rubles fine. In the US, it is punished with a thousand dollars fine and / or imprisonment of up to six months.

Considering hit-and-run offence, in Russia the punishment differs from one to one and a half years, or arrest for fifteen days. Hitting a pedestrian and leaving the accident scene in the US is punished with the fine from one thousand to ten thousand dollars and/or from one to five years in prison.

In the Russian Federation the punishment for driving while intoxicated is a thirty thousand rubles fine and deprivation of the rights for one and a half or two years, provided the person has been arrested for the first time. If you are arrested again, the fine will consist of fifty thousand rubles and three years deprivation of rights. In the US there is fine from two hundred fifty to one thousand dollars and forfeiture of up to one year, provided that the person has been arrested for the first time. If you are arrested again, the fine will be six hundred dollars and deprivation of rights for two years imprisonment for the year. If you were arrested for the third time, the fine would be from two to five thousand dollars and up to five years in prison.

There are separate and distinct articles in the Criminal Code which qualify essentially almost the same kind of criminal act, creating serious problems in law enforcement. One of the criminal law provides for liability for theft (Article 158 of the Criminal Code), and the other - for wrongful seizure of a car or other vehicle without theft (Article 166 of the Criminal Code). Often a person detained in a stolen car, it is enough to say that he had no intentions to steal the car and he would like to ride and then leave or return it back, to stop considering his actions as a theft. This entails, in accordance with the established jurisprudence, significant mitigation of punishment, and only in exceptional cases the perpetrators are condemned to a real penitentiary imprisonment.

Regarding U.S. law in 1984, the U.S.Federal Law on Combating car theft provided the marking of the car basic components and parts with permanent identification numbers in models, that had been stolen most often. If the 17- digit number marking slightly jammed or there were visible attempts to delete numbers, such a machine was subject to confiscation. Forge all the VIN markings thought to be impossible and it was assumed that the marked cars and components easier to find. According to experts, the cost of labeling a single machine did not exceed U.S. $ 15.

Also, then there was introduced a new offense - "armed carjacking ." For this crime the law imposes more severe penalties for serious bodily injury or death.

In addition to the legal provisions applicable against armed vehicle hijackings in the state, there is a number of legal rules applicable to the hijackers at the local level, federal laws complementing but not limiting them.

Although citizens used to complain about the severity of Russian laws, they are actually quite liberal in comparison with the other countries legislation. For example, for the same violations in the United States, you definitely go to prison, while in this country, they are just misdemeanors.